Hate Radio loses then gains back Dr. Laura

The Huffington post is reporting today that Dr. Laura will begin a new, 3-hour radio show on Sirius-XM satellite radio on Monday, January 3rd. This is less than a week after her scheduled resignation from her current radio contract on "terrestial radio". It seems that right-wing/hate radio can do no wrong nowadays. Controversial radio hosts such as Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck continue to dominate the top of the talk-radio charts. Not only can these right-wing pundits, including Dr. Laura, do no wrong but they can not say anything that is bad enough to cost them their radio jobs. In a racist tirade a couple of months ago, Dr. Laura used the "N" word eleven times and for this, she is being rewarded with a brand spanking new radio contract. Ain't America great?

Once in a great while, Laredo's been first or most

I Know we're numero Uno !


We all might agree that Laredo gets slapped around pretty good in the local/state/national media but I do recall a few times that Laredo, for better or worse, has been acknowledge for being either first or most in a few things.

I remember reading that BP Newman elementary school was the first school built with a  fallout shelter. Naturally, this was during the 1960s when the cold war was in full force and such a thing would have made some news shows.  During the 1970s, Home Box Office, chose Laredo as the first Texas city (town) to receive HBO. It came it with little or no fanfare and one of the first "brand new" movies showed was "American Grafiti". A year or two later, when HBO was entering the San Antonio market, it was met with all sorts of protests against the R rated shows and movies associated with the channel. During the 90's, it was in the news, that Laredo had the highest percentage of user-subscribers of caller-id in the entire country: sounds like Laredo. I would not be surprised that Laredo's ratio of cell phone users/owners is probably also pretty high. Last but not least, Laredo has always been referred to as the US City with the highest concentration of hispanic population. I know it was even higher in the past but now I believe it's somewhere around 95%.
Take that McAllen & Brownsville.

Obama gets a "codazo" while playing basketball. Fueron los del tea party!!!

Must've been one of those pointed-headed republicans Sir!

President Obama had to receive some stitches (12) for a busted lip he sustained during a pick-up basketball game on Friday. The White House did not reveal who inflicted the accidental damage to the President. There was a rumor that it might have been a deranged tea partier who busted Obama on the mouth with the corner of his tri-corner hat, but it has yet to be confirmed. Those codazos can really hurt a lot. This is especially true when the guy who happens to hit you is lanky ala Ichabod Crane, or as they say in the barrio, un *#@^%! flaco huesudo.  Aguila!

Thanksgiving football predictions- why not?

After painstakingly analyzing  volumes of statistical and other types of data, senior analysts at our laredotejas sports wing have arrived at the following predictions for Thursday's football games. They are as follows:

NFL
 Dallas Cowboys 26    New Orleans Saints 17

NCAA
Texas Longhorns 17    Texas A&M Aggies 13

Hopefully, these bold predictions will not mysteriously disappear, especially if they turn out to be way off.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at laredotejas

The more things change, the more they.........well, the more they change

I think the official word for it is De-evolution.  Happy Thanksgiving. Make sure you dress in your Sunday Thursday best. 

Free Turkeys! Free Turkeys!

 

In the last couple of days, J.P.s, county commissioners, city councilmen and school board members have been in the news. For the most part, they've been doing some good for the public by donating turkeys and/or bags of groceries to families all throughout Laredo. My first question is: who is paying for these turkeys? When school board member Amaya, or commissioner Canales is shown distributing turkeys, is it compliments of the taxpayers or of the political figure? Next question: there's always a small army of volunteers with the political figure, sometimes all wearing the same "team" shirts giving away the goodies. My question is: are these volunteers ?  are they paid? are they family? and most importantly are these groceries going to the truly needy?

I am simply asking these questions because many times we see things but don't question anything. I figured if we can least get some answers to these questions, at least we get a sort of behind-the-scenes understanding of a small part of politics in Laredo. Please feel free to offer your insight into any political process in our town. I think a lot of people would at least be somewhat amused/interested in how these events occurr. They certainly don't just happen spontaneously.

Another black eye for Laredo; Tom Delay found guilty of money Laundering

Delay in happier times on DWTS

The New York Times is reporting this afternoon that former US house majority leader (and former Laredoan) Tom Delay has been found guilty of Money Laundering charges in Austin. Jurors deliberated nearly 20 hours before returning with the guilty verdicts : money laundering & conspiracy to commit money laundering. Reportedly, Delay can get up to life in prison for the money-laundering charges. The writer, James C. Mckinley Jr. adds:

The main facts of the case were never in dispute. In mid-September 2002, as the election heated up, Mr. DeLay’s state political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, gave a check for $190,000 to the Republican National Committee. The money had been donated earlier in the year by various corporate lobbyists seeking to influence Mr. DeLay, several witnesses said.
On Sept. 13, the check was delivered to the R.N.C. by Mr. Ellis, who was Mr. Delay’s top political operative in Washington and headed his Federal political action committee. At the same meeting, Mr. Ellis also gave the Republican director of political operations, Terry Nelson, a list of state candidates and an amount to be sent to each. Mr. Nelson testified that Mr. Ellis had told him the request had come from Mr. DeLay.
In early October, donations were sent from a separate account to seven G.O.P. candidates in Texas. Six of them won. The Republican seized control of the legislature for the first time in modern history and promptly pushed through a controversial redistricting plan — orchestrated by Mr. DeLay — that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004 and helped him consolidate his power.

Tom Delay is one of a selected few laredo natives who have gone on to receive national acclaim. Others include Jose Silva: founder of Silva Minda Control and Federico Pena: former US Transp. Secratary.  Editors note: Some would argue that the editor-in-chief of Laredo's most imposing blog is nearing that kind of national recognition.